Life

IRONMAN Athlete Sets "Dirty Double" Goal

A sprinter-turned-endurance junkie rises through the IRONMAN age-group ranks.

by Lisa Barnes

In 2007, Brad Austin caught a broadcast of the IRONMAN World Championship on television. Intrigued by the sport and Chris "Macca" McCormack's win, he looked for past broadcasts and came across the inspiring story of Dick Hoyt and his son. "If a father can push and pull his son through this race, I have no excuse not to do it," the 25-year old Los Angeles resident recalls.

At the time, Austin was a collegiate sprinter for Georgetown University, with no room to take on endurance training. His IRONMAN dreams took a back seat, and after college he graduated from the 200-meter dash to the 26.2-mile marathon. It wouldn’t be long before the lure of IRONMAN came knocking again.

Austin had been running competitively all his life, and qualified for the Boston Marathon after his first race. He suddenly found himself, however, lacking the excitement to do another standalone marathon. When Austin moved from Philadelphia to LA, he knew thought it was the perfect time to train for a new opportunity. In 2012, he made his full-distance debut at St. George, qualifying for the coveted IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. "It was my experience in Hawaii that year that really ignited my passion for IRONMAN," Austin says. "Up until that point, I was racing primarily for the experience. After seeing the high caliber of athletes in this sport, and feeling destroyed on that course, I changed my whole outlook on training."

Reorganizing himself with a new coach and a long-term vision to return to the World Championship (and win the amateur race) Austin tore through IRONMAN Arizona in 2013 with a near-flawless execution of performance and nutrition.

"The second half turned into absolute survival mode, but I dug deep in the last five km and caught several people," he remembers. That digging paid off—with a second place finish in his age group. Austin’s time of 9:34 hours not only qualified him for the 2014 world championship, it also earned him an IRONMAN AWA Gold Award.

"Throughout the year, there isn’t much recognition that comes from a hard bike session on the trainer, or a long run on a Thursday night," Austin says. "It’s an honor to receive the award, but I’m most excited about returning to Hawaii knowing that I have another shot at the race that first inspired me, but later humbled me."

This summer, Austin will race IRONMAN 70.3 Vineman before transitioning his training to focus strictly on Kona in October. And that’s not all—when he’s done on the Big Island, he'll head back to Tempe to take on the race he did in 2013. He's calling it the "dirty double," given that the two events are just one month apart.